How many times did you felt overwhelmed when you just opened a new Birth Chart?
An avalanche of pieces of information suddenly comes inside your mind; hundreds of concepts all together, divagations, confusion, and then only one question raises in your head: – “ Where the hell do I have to start?!”
I’m sure that this is a very familiar situation for you, especially if you are a beginner on Astrology.
Well, today I’m here to erase that feeling of bewilderment forever.
I will give you a method, a modus operandi to follow each time you’ll start the interpretation of a Natal Chart; a logical path which helps you in individualizing and focusing the main pieces of the Chart, those which should be the priority to analyze.
The issue with this comes because we all have the tendency in wanting the final result and the complete interpretation immediately, but this is a big mistake, especially on Astrology, an art which helps to probe the complicated mosaic of the psyche of a human being. The interpretation of a Birth Chart it’s a job we must do starting from the general to slowly come at the particular.
It’s like drawing. The painter doesn’t try to realize the finished illustration immediately, but he always starts from a sketch which gives to him the idea of the image’s composition, the shapes, the structure, and then he defines that sketch going in details with his pencil, and then he puts the lights and shadows, and then the colors, layer by layer, until he gets the final result, the great picture in all its shine.
Here it is; the interpretation of a Natal Chart works the same way: you need to start drawing a rough psychological profile, which gives you the basic structure of the personality you are analyzing, and then you can go on in refining and perfecting the general view to finally arrive at every single character trait.
You need patience; Astrology needs patience. Hastiness and impatience lead to mistakes, trivial concepts, and superficial interpretations.
So, here is the method to follow to get the priority elements of the Chart to define the main structure of the psyche of people you are analyzing.
We will do all this step by step and in the right order.
Let’s start.
Step 1 – Check and analyze the Sun.
It seems obvious saying that the first thing to do is checking the Sun’s position in the Natal Chart, but yet, many people skip this fundamental step because: – “Hey, I already know his/her Zodiac Sign!” – this is exactly that kind of hastiness and impatience you don’t need to have during an interpretation.
Even if we think to know everything about it, take the right time to well analyze the Natal Sun and with the right care. That will prevent us from forgetting important pieces about it and it will avoid us from thinking something like: – “Oh! I forgot that the Sun in Aries is in Exaltation! That changes many things…” during the advanced phases of the interpretation, forcing us in overhauling all the job made; that is a wasting of time, and it creates useless confusion that we could easily avoid applying the method perfectly.
So, I repeat, the first thing to do is: Checking and analyzing the Natal Sun
Check if it has some Dignities [Rulership, Exaltation] or some Debilities [Detriment, Fall]
Check the Alchemical Element of the Zodiac Sign where it is placed.
Check the Quality [Cardinal, Fixed, Mutable] of the Zodiac Sign where it is placed.
Those 3 essential data will already give you the base of the personality you are analyzing; above this base, later you can define every successive psychological detail. Remember that the Sun represents the “manifested” part of the character’s person, the “Conscious Thinking”, that’s why it defines the Zodiac Sign in Astrology.
Pay attention; this is exactly one of those moments when you will be tempted in observing other things in the Birth Chart, above all the Astrological House where the Sun is. Don’t do it; that is the kind of impulsive action that leads later in feeling overwhelmed and get lost.
Remember the golden rule: From general to particular.
Dignities or Debilities, Element, Quality; they are the only basic data that we need in this phase to draw the basic interpretation of the Natal Sun, all the rest comes later.
Step 2 – Check and analyze the position of the Moon.
Immediately later that we got the basics from the Natal Sun, we go to check the Moon. Pay attention: another “temptation moment”. Many amateurs and beginners above all, after the Sun, go to check the Ascendant [Rising Sign], but this is not the right order.
The Moon has the priority respect to the Ascendant, because, together with the Sun, is one of the two Luminaries; in other words, the Sun and the Moon compose the 2 sides of your essence: the “manifested-side” [Sun], and the “not-manifested side” [Moon] of your psyche. Speaking purely psychologically, they are your Conscious Thinking [Sun] and your Unconscious Thinking [Moon], those that C.G. Jung named “Animus” (Sun) and “Anima” (Moon).
If the Sun represents your rational thinking, your “way to think”, the Moon instead is your irrational thinking, the world of the emotions, your “way to feel”. That’s why after the check of the Sun, the priority is checking the Moon, otherwise, we will have only a half of the basic personality; we will go on only after we checked the situation of the Moon.
The method to follow for the check of the Moon is the same we used for the Sun:
1 – Check the Zodiac Sign where the Moon is positioned, combining the fundamental traits of that sign with the main psychological meanings of the Moon.
2 – Check if the Moon has some Dignity or Debility.
3 – Check in which Alchemical Element the Moon is.
4 – Check in which Quality the Moon is.
Stop, that’s enough data about the Moon at the moment. As I said for the Sun, leave all the rest for the later phases of the interpretation, especially the Astrological House; I know you are tempted, but I repeat: Resist, or the risk for feel overwhelmed will be high.
At the moment, there is another important step to do first:
Step 3 – Check how the Sun and the Moon match together
Now that you have the general view of the Sun and the Moon, the 2 Luminaries, it’s time to observe how they match together, so you will have a basic idea about how the 2 parts of your personality integrating each other.
In this phase, leave the Aspects, and focus just on their respective Zodiac Signs, namely, in their respective Elements and Qualities. The alchemical interactions give to us great indications about how 2 Planets match together.
Remember the alchemical dynamics: the Fire Signs and the Air Signs are complementary Signs, as well as the Water Signs and the Earth Signs. So, an example:
If the Sun is in Aries [Fire] and the Moon is in Aquarius [Air], this is a “good” combination, they are complementary so there is a constructive exchange of energies between the Conscious and the Unconscious, and a good inner balance at the personality’s basic.
On the other hand, remember that Air and Earth are opposite Elements, as well as Fire and Water, and their combination is much hard. Another example about this: If the Sun is in Pisces [Water] and the Moon is in Leo [Fire], the rational mind {Sun] and the emotional sphere {Moon] pull on opposite directions or one of them could try in overcoming or preventing the other one , causing discrepancies between thinking and feeling (more about Elemental dynamics in this free guide).
Step 4 – Check the Ascendant (Rising Sign)
Now that you have the basic view of the 2 Luminaries which represents the 2 sides of a human’s essence, it’s time to improve your general psychological interpretation adding another fundamental piece: the Rising Sign [Ascendant], namely, the 1st Astrological House.
If the Sun represents your conscious thinking and the Moon represents your what you feel unconsciously, the Ascendant instead represents the “way” the psyche projects itself toward the external world, it’s your “way to be”, the way your essence acts into the world. It’s something connected to the concept of “character”.
That’s why in Astrology the group: – Sun – Moon – Ascendant – is commonly called “the trinity”, because they are like the 3 foundation pillars of a personality and so of the Birth Chart.
So the 1st Astrological House is a bit an exception in the interpretation method, because, as I said before, the Houses’ analysis is one of the final phases of the Birth Chart’s interpretation, just after the Planets’ analysis and the Aspects’ analysis.
The 1st House [Ascendant] is the only one we will observe in this preliminary phase, because is a landmark of the whole psychological system of a person. It’s enough to remember that the Ascendant is the House of the Individuality, the House of the instincts, of the innate characteristics; the ancient masters called it “Hōroscopion”, from which derives the modern word: “horoscope”, that we vulgarly know today as the entire system of the astrological prediction about a person. This happens because the Ascendant, is the holy place [East point] where the god Horus [Sun] rises and sets his “fingerprint” into the newborn Soul; – the scope of Horus – “horoscope”.
For the Ascendant’s basic analysis, you will proceed as always: check in which Zodiac Sign it is placed and take all its relative traits associated, its Element and its Quality.
Remember that the Rising Sign is defined by the very AC point only. All the eventual other Signs that are “inside” the House’s space have no importance in that (read even here for more about this topic).
Step 5 – Check how the Sun, the Moon and the Ascendant match all together.
As happened for the Sun and the Moon case, it’s time to observe how the AC match with the 2 Luminaries. The principle to use is the same we applied before: Take the Elements and the Qualities of the 3 Zodiac Signs involved as a point of reference, it will give many clues to understand how this astrological trinity works together, and, consequently, how the 3 fundamental energies of the psyche that they represent work together.
Example:
An Ascendant (AC) in an Earth Sign, in a person who has even the Natal Sun in an Earth Sign, will work in tune with that Sun, and if that person has the Moon in a Water Sign (complementary) the AC’s traits will support and integrate those of the Moon and vice versa.
At the same way, an AC in Air Element with a Sun in Earth and a Moon in Fire, will produce different inner dynamics between the 3 pillars of the Chart: Air AC will work in harmony with the Fire Moon (complementary Elements) but at the same time it will have some hard relation with the Earth-Sun (opposite Elements).
So, all of this could be enough to have the basic structure of your personality with its inner dynamics, however, I suggest doing one last step to actually get a good view of your behaviors and beliefs’ system.
Step 6 – Check the Dispositor’s position of your Zodiac Sign.
Many people usually stop this basic analysis of the Birth Chart with the interpretation of the trinity, but I personally suggest checking the position of the Dispositor of the Sun Sign; it will give you important insight about your main psychological portrait.
The Dispositor is the Planet Lord of your Zodiac Sign; pay attention, it is not a Dignity like the Domicile or the Exaltation, but it’s simply a role that a Planet takes respect to the Zodiacal Sign that it rules. That’s why it’s useful in understanding the particular and individual shade of your Zodiac Sign; It’s the influence of the Dispositor that defines your subjective way of being a Gemini, Scorpius, Aquarius, Aries, etc.
Example:
If in a Birth Chart the Sun is placed in Taurus, as we know that determines the Zodiacal Sign of the person who we are examining, so he is a Taurus. However, to understand his subjective way to be a Taurus, we need to check even the position of the Planet Lord of Taurus, namely Venus.
In this example, Venus is the Dispositor of the Solar Sign and it will help us in understanding which kind of Taurus is that person. Continuing that example, we find out that Venus (Dispositor) is in Pisces; Well, the person we are examining will be a Taurus with particular shades of Pisces, because the Planet Dispositor (Venus) will reflect its Pisces forces toward its natural Domicile (Taurus) and consequently, toward the Sun that is placsed there.
So, the situation of the Dispositor of the Sun Sign gives to us many pieces of information about the personal expression of our own Zodiac Sign.
All this Dispositor thing, it’s exactly what makes thinking to us while we are reading a profile of our Zodiac Sign: – “Yes, ok, I recognize myself in many things, but less in others…” – the Dispositor is the main responsible for the subjective differences in respect to the generic profile of our Zodiac Sign.
That’s why, besides – Sun – Moon – AC -, I consider an indispensable priority even checking the basic situation of the Planet Dispositor of the Zodiacal Sign; this is the way we can obtain the most accurate psychological base where we can successively build a detailed personal portrait continuing with all the other pieces of the Natal Chart.
About the Dispositor, you will proceed to its basic examination as always: check the Element, the Quality and if it has some Dignity or Debility.
After you get those elements, you can proceed again in checking how the Dispositor matches with the trinity: if it has affinity or divergencies with them, again according to the alchemical dynamics previously showed in this article. Give more emphasis to its combination with the Sun especially.
Once you did that, you finally finished the basic analysis of the priority elements of the Birth Chart. I recap the method and its order:
1 – Basic check to the Sun [Element – Quality – Dignities/Debilities]
2 – Basic check to the Moon [Element – Quality – Dignities/Debilities – How it matches with the Sun]
3 – Basic check to the Ascendant [Element – Quality – How it matches with the Luminaries]
4 – Basic check to the Dispositor of the Zodiacal Sign [ Element – Quality – Dignities/Debilities – how it matches with Sun-Moon-AC]
These 4 steps are the first thing you should do every time that you open a new Birth Chart, ignoring all the rest until their time will come. Don’t disperse your attention on Lilith, Houses, Asteroids, Vertex, etc. while you don’t know yet the Unconscious [Moon] of those who you are examining. It would be like buying items of furniture without having yet a house to furnish.
Apply the method, and you will see with your own eyes how it will avoid to you chaos, disorder, that overwhelmed feeling, and a lot of frustration.
In doing that, you will realize soon that those elements are the 4 landmarks of the Birth Chart, because you will acquire a consistent psychological portrait of yourself and your personality even just from these few pieces of the interpretation.
With time and patience, it will become an “auto-pilot” to you, an effective “modus operandi” that will make your Birth chart’s interpretations easier, faster, cleaner and precise.
With this solid base, now you can moving forward to the next phases of the Birth Chart interpretation confidently, to get every single detail about the wonderful picture of the human psyche.